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🔥 best ruler purely capability wise (ignoring nobility/possibility/implications/themes constraints)

it's dany

okay fine. elaborating. you said to ignore themes but my definition of capable is synonymous with the text's, so this has a correct answer and it's definitely dany (and among the targaryen kings, egg, who was written to be dany's narrative precursor) i don't find much value in discussing this as if they're all competing in the westerosi administration olympics, but dany's story arc (+ jon) is the mode through which grrm is investigating the complexities of kingship and she is clearly written to be something of an answer to the series's pre-occupation with the subject of a 'good king', this is not going to be immediately obvious, i guess, since both jon and dany end their adwd arcs at a state of failure but that has way less to do with their administrative talents and more with how they're working within (night's watch) and to please (the masters) corrupt institutions. dany is the only character in the series who is portrayed as a successful military commander and later as a capable diplomat in meereen, we see her engaging in statecraft when she levies taxes on slaveowning noblemen and works to rebuild the economy of what is essentially, a failed state. she's written to be a preternaturally capable ruler (jon too, i'll argue) where she goes wrong obviously is that, like jon, she tries to make peace with the slavers. the night's watch in its present state exists to dehumanise and make war with a group of people for the crime of being outsiders. as lord commander jon goes against centuries of traditions to push for reforms. and then they kill him for it. right, well, it's a bit more nuanced than that he was also personally pissing off everyone at the wall and broke all his vows when he read out the pink letter. but dany and jon are not failing because they're teenagers or because "no such thing as a good king" (something i obvs agree with politically, but the books do not. because he is writing a story, not a political pamphlet) instead what feastdance is saying, is that you cannot force real change while being beholden to corrupt institutions. dany comes to understand this in the dothraki sea when she embraces fire and blood and jon is freed of his vows to a dying tradition when he chooses arya.

#asoiaf

fortunate-hal

the lead up to akotsk seems to have propagated the reading of brienne "asoiaf's most moral character" and therefore a worthy candidate for the kingsguard (???) the place where good knights belong. that dunk's triumphant unlikely rags to riches appointment to lord commander ends in a tragedy so catastrophic that grrm can't release more of his beloved targaryen backstories until after winds doesn't factor into this appraisal.

brienne's "no chance no choice" is a moment of exceptional bravery and compassion, but the only witnesses to it are brienne's party of misfits and a band of children orphaned by feudal conflict. brienne's chivalry towards the hanged women in the riverlands, nimble-dick crabb, and the children at the crossroads is possible because she operates outside the system of knighthood that would force her to prioritize the interests of her liege lord over those of the smallfolk.

this is not to say that anointed knights or even kingsguard are incapable of performing good deeds; asoiaf provides plenty of counterexamples. still worth thinking about how when dunk defends tanselle from aerion he does it not as a hedge knight but as a brave bumpkin lying about even those meager credentials.

#asoiaf

versains

failsons

#he's right!#asoiaf

neo--queen--serenity

I think a lot of people forget that Wen Ning is hot. We know that both Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng are jealous of him, but this is generally assumed to be because Wei Wuxian prioritizes Wen Ning over the two of them during the events of the novels. He prioritizes Wen Ning as a member of his found family, as a partner in crime and as his closest friend. But it is so much funnier—so much juicier, drama-wise—to remember that Wen Ning is described as physically beautiful many times in the books. An enemy of the state just stole Wei Wuxian from right under your nose, and he’s also hot. Humiliating. Devastating. 2 dead 3k injured

#ha!#mdzs

elbiotipo

So much of the world's "riches" came from Latin America that it really makes the mind dizzy. You see all those palaces in Austria and you would think they are as far from Bolivia as possible and then you remember that the Austrian Habsburgs ruled the Spanish Empire and partook of the loot of the silver and gold from the Americas. You see the cuisine of Europe, Asia and Africa completely changed by American crops to the point that many don't even remember where they came from. Silver from Potosí found its way from China to Sweden. All the world was enriched, directly or not, while the Americas were plundered. When you really realize the scale of it, the entire line of history bends around it.

jjmikka

First drawing of 2026

#dc #fanart

weirdlandtv

Illustrations by Sheilah Beckett for THE TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES (1954).

#art

zizzlearts

He‘s very gothic heroine coded (to me)

#he's so beautiful!#his big frightened eyes have bewitched me.#it welcome to derry #fanart

obsob

shining bright bc i am a lovely little star :) (print!!)

#art

conceptloto-deactivated20251101

new favorite baby Jesus pic secured

#art

ullathynell

Fairy Tale - from my new art book Faraway Dreaming. The Kickstarter campaign ends in less than a week! You can back the project until June 24th to receive a hardcover copy of my art book, plus other lovely rewards. 💜

#art

bookshelfdreams

Of course it had to be this way. Of course. of course.

If Victor Frankenstein is the shitty, abusive parent, of course the Creature has to be the abused and neglected child but by God, did GdT commit.

He did not have to go this hard.

He did not have to film Jacob Elordi like that, curling in on himself, folding all his miles-long limbs up into the fetal position because no one else will hold him. Watching a leaf float away, out of his cold, dark prison, with nothing short of wonder. Gazing at the camera with his big, soulful eyes. Meeting a wild and dangerous creature and gently feeding it a berry.

Being able to speak only one word, the most important one, Victor, because this - his father - is the only thing in the world to him.

And of course Victor, tragically commonly unequipped to handle the responsibility of parenthood, resents him for it. He built the Creature from the ground, exactly as he wanted, carefully chose every bone, every muscle, every neuron in his body. And yet, when he comes to life, when he breathes, and moves, and needs, Victor recoils. All his hard work, the toiling that drove him to near insanity, was only just the beginning. But this, this slow caretaking, this is different: there's no glory in it. Not the excitement of discovery, not the grandiosity of defying God and nature. This work is repetitive, frustrating, exhausting, and Victor very quickly tires of it.

I do not need to explain the metaphor.

This is usually where the story turns around and says, well, it can't be denied that the Creature is horrible to look at. He is violent and dangerous. Victor may have failed but really, can we blame him?

Well. Yes we can.

GdT certainly thinks so, as he cradles the Creature in his arms and tells him, You're perfect, you have never done anything wrong. I have seen people say that this Creature is too sympathetic, the film lacks subtlety and nuance, but damn, don't we need this. Don't we need to fully and unequivocally sympathise with that which is labeled grotesque, and don't we need to condemn people who fail in their responsibility to those under their care.

rowanhorserider

People who say the creature is too sympathetic haven't read the book. The creature is characterised, especially early in the book, by his delight in the world around him, mixed with a deep yearning for connection and, after experiencing violence for his appearance, a great fear of rejection.

Page 105, as Victor berates the creature and the creature tries to explain himself: "'Will no entreaties cause thee to turn a favourable eye upon thy creature, who implores thy goodness and compassion? Believe me, Frankenstein, I was benevolent; my soul glowed with love and humanity; but am I not alone, miserably alone?'"

Page 109, the beginning of the creature's side of the story: "I gradually saw plainly the clear stream that supplied me with drink and the trees that shaded me with their foliage. I was delighted when I first discovered that a pleasant sound, which often saluted my ears, proceeded from the throats of the little winged animals who had often intercepted the light from my eyes. [...] Sometimes I tried to imitate the pleasant songs of the birds but was unable. Sometimes I wished to express my sensations in my own mode, but the uncouth and inarticulate sounds which broke from me frightened me into silence again."

Page 114, as the creature watches the family in the farmhouse: "The silver hair and benevolent countenance of the aged cottager won my reverence, while the gentle manners of the girl enticed my love. He played a sweet mournful air which I percieved drew tears from the eyes of his amiable companion, of which the old man took no notice, until she sobbed audibly; he then pronounced a few sounds, and the fair creature, leaving her work, knelt at his feet. He raised her and smiled with such kindness and affection that I felt sensations of a peculiar and overpowering nature; they were a mixture of pain and pleasure, such as I had never before experienced, either from hunger or cold, warmth or food; and I withdrew from the window, unable to bear these emotions."

Personally, I found that the most book faithful aspect of the adaptation was the creature's emotionality. It came through beautifully.

Day one - childhood

“Yet even so, when Jaime was given his first sword, there was none for me. 'What do I get?' I remember asking. We were so much alike, I could never understand why they treated us so differently”

#asoiaf #fanart